What does 'being in the military' mean to you?
It means "Greatcoats on", swiftly followed by "Greatcoats off". Also known as on the bus, off the bus.
As far as having fun is concerned, I think you'll find that the wartime RAF had huge amounts of fun, when not on operations/sleeping. In fact the party factor rose in direct correlation to the operational activity, or close to it. I have no problem with people who work and party hard at all, and I'd be upset if I thought they had to spend their non-sleeping/training/standby free time in some kind of monastic existence.